Special Screening with Q&A From:
The Rev. Patricia Templeton
The Rev. Martha Sterne
The Rev. Lynn Washington
Leigh Halsema, Atlanta-based filmmaker with The Shimmer Films

A group of women in the Episcopal Church share their call to become priests. After two legislative votes to make it possible for women to be ordained fail, they organize their own ordination as priests in defiance of church norms. The Church of the Advocate, a Black urban church in North Philadelphia, welcomes them. A huge congregation witnesses the service on July 29, 1974. Changing an institution based on 2,000 years of history is an enormous task. The women priests face threats and harassment. Some lose family and friends, and others are banned from setting foot on church property. Their opponents repeatedly question whether they are “proper matter for ordination.” Their ordination becomes not only a personal struggle, but also a very public battle over whether women are qualified to lead. Despite the backlash, they successfully change the church by asserting their leadership and a vision for “a new way” on their own terms. In a women’s rights story most people have never heard, we meet these trailblazers who challenge the very essence of patriarchy within Christendom, and successfully create a blueprint for lasting institutional change.

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